SailorStar9: With Chapter 149 uploaded, I present Chapter 150 of this fic. (Sighs) Guys and girls, is it too hard for you to leave a review, instead of just putting this fic up on your favorited list and story alerts?
Disclaimers: I do not own Sailor Moon or Detective Conan, I only own this plotline and the pairing.
Pairing: Established!Furuya Rei/Mizuno Ami
Chapter 150: The Two Faces, Part One
Time passes...
"Is this the Mouri Detective Agency?" Muto Masako entered the agency.
"So, what do you want to discuss?" Mouri asked.
"I hadn't introduced myself yet." Masako recalled. "My name is Muto Masako. I'd like to ask you to find a person for me: my husband, Muto Issei. I don't know what to do."
"Could you describe the events leading up to your husband's disappearance?" Mouri inquired. "In as much detail as possible."
"My husband, Muto Issei, runs a trading company that imports and sells goods from overseas." Masako related. "We got married six months ago. I believed our relationship was nothing short of perfect. Until that happened: last week, I went to a restaurant to have lunch with some friends. As I was heading home after finishing lunch and parting ways with my friends, I spotted my husband. I thought he was there for a meeting and tried to call out to him, but I saw him speaking intimately with a woman I didn't recognize. I was curious about what their relationship and followed them. But they parted ways without doing anything in particular, so I decided to say hello to him."
"He ran?" Mouri blinked.
"At full speed." Masako nodded. "I did my best to chase after my fleeing husband. By the time I reached the river, I had lost sight of him. I wasn't sure if I should, but I ended up calling the police. But I doubt they understood even half of what I had to say. I waited at home for a while to hear from them, but it seemed like they weren't making any progress, so I decided to come visit you. Please, I can't sleep at night like this." she pleaded.
"You can count on me." Mouri assured. "I swear on my good name that I will find your husband. By the way, do you have any idea why your husband might have disappeared?"
"No, I have no idea." Masako admitted. "Like I said before, I didn't think we had any problems until now."
"Did you find anything odd when you lost track of your husband?" Conan piped in.
"I don't know if it's related to the case, but I think a vehicle drove away just as I arrived." Masako recalled.
In a cab later...
"First, I'd like to investigate your husband's office." Mouri suggested.
In the Muto house...
"Is it all right if I investigate the room?" Mouri asked, Masako leading him and Conan into the room that was converted into an office.
"Of course." Masako replied.
"What the heck is going on?" Mouri complained, going through the books in the bookshelves and finding nothing. "There's nothing suspicious among the documents on his desk. There's nothing odd inside his closet, either."
"This room doesn't feel lived in." Conan noted.
"There's hardly anything personal in there." Mouri agreed. "I have no idea where we're supposed to begin."
"Then, how about this?" Conan showed Mouri the name-card he found on the desk drawer.
In a rather first-rate office building...
"Oji-san, over here." Conan pulled Mouri out of the reception, after they were refused entry. "I don't think we'll find any employees here. After this, this place is a virtual office; an imaginary office young companies use to reduce costs. It allows them to acquire a prestigious address like this one cheap."
"It may be imaginary, but there must be someone receiving phone calls and mail." Mouri pointed out.
"Those are set up to be forwarded, too." Conan explained.
By a river later...
"So, this is where Masako-san lost sight of her husband." Mouri noted. "The question is: what happened here? Why did he flee when he saw his wife? Why did he flee to this river? Was he attacked by someone or did he fall into the river? Was it an accident, or was there foul play?"
"Ojii-san, over here." Conan shouted. "Look at this." he pointed to the tire marks he found on the grass nearby.
"These are tire marks." Mouri realized.
"These might be from the vehicle Masako-san said she saw driving away." Conan reasoned. "Judging by the width of the tracks, it might be a microcar."
"Masako-san?" Mouri took the incoming call. "Understood, I'll head there immediately."
At the Beika Police Station...
"What's this about a wallet they found?" Mouri asked, running up to Masako.
"This." Masako showed him the brown wallet. "It was discovered about 400 meters away from the river where I lost sight of my husband. All the cash were taken, but his cards were still here, so they contacted me."
"Any fingerprints?" Mouri inquired.
"They were wiped clean." Masako shook her head.
"May I take a look?" Mouri requested. "Credit cards, membership cards, and there're some receipts in here."
Back at the Mouri Detective Agency...
"Hey, ojii-san." Conan voiced. "You think these receipts are the key to finding Issei-san, right?"
"I brought a detailed map of Haido City." Ran had also returned.
"Ojii-san, you're going to use this map the find the missing husband." Conan beamed. "Ran-nee-chan, can you lay that map over there?" he pointed to the coffee table. "I'll read out the names of the stores of these receipts, so could you mark them on the map?"
"His life is focused around this area." Mouri peered at the marked-out map.
"But this nowhere near Muto-san's house or the virtual office." Conan pointed out.
"The husband is secretly doing something in this area other than running a trading company." Mouri concluded.
"We can use this." Conan pulled out a compass. "If we draw a few circles around the stores we marked a bunch of times..."
"The missing husband is somewhere hidden in these circles." Mouri noticed the intersected area. "It's very likely that he's here where the three circles overlap."
At the indicated location...
"Ojii-san, haven't you felt like something is off since we visited Muto-san's house?" Conan wondered. "Even though he runs an export trading company, there weren't any foreign imports in his house. All the appliances around the house were outdated, too. They had nothing in common and were all totally different styles and brands. Then, there's the microcar tire tracks at the river."
"Those must be left by that mini truck." Mouri spotted the lone vehicle parked in the area. "Let's go check it out. Excuse me." he approached one of the factory employees. "Have you seen this man?"
"The president?" the employee blinked. "He's right over there."
"He's supposed to be the president of a trading company renting a virtual office, but he's the president of a secondhand shop?" Mouri was puzzled.
"There he is." Conan pointed to Issei.
In the makeshift office...
"That's what Masako said?" Issei sighed.
"After conducting an investigation at your wife's request, I ended up here." Mouri explained.
"You truly are a great detective." Issei remarked. "I never thought I'd be found out this quickly."
"More importantly, Muto-san, I have honestly no idea why you left your wife." Mouri stated. "Could you explain the situation?"
"I lied to my wife on our first date." Issei confessed. "In order to make myself look better, I said I ran an import trading company. I ended up marrying Masako before I could tell her the truth. I began to think maintaining the lie would hurt Masako less than telling the truth."
"So, you went as far as renting a virtual office to maintain the lie." Mouri mused.
"I didn't want to destroy her dream." Issei admitted. "Now, I'm being punished. I didn't think Masako would find me here."
"Why did you run?" Mouri pressed. "Your wife simply saw you speaking with a woman."
"I thought she overheard our conversation." Issei argued. "The woman I was with was a client. I thought I couldn't talk my way out of it and panicked."
"What are you going to do now?" Mouri asked.
"I don't know what to do, so I haven't been able to do anything." Issei moaned.
"If you think it's not too late, then shouldn't you go back to her?" Mouri suggested. "You don't seem like a bad person. Can't you and your wife get along even after all this happened? I believe that's what she wants. However, I don't think you should lie anymore. Women have keen instincts."
"I'll do that." Issei relented.
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.